By Declan Bogue

GOD knows, if ever a team were set to lose a game, it was Naomh Colum Cille last Sunday. They might have shocked a lot of people on their way to beating Rasharkin in the Ulster final, but having a man sent off in this one should have proved fatal.

That's not how they see it though. Despite trailing throughout this game until the last fifteen minutes, they pulled it out of the bag in dramatic fashion. But it looked like it might not happen for them. Rory O'Neill and Seamus O'Hagan had opportunities for goals, not half chances either, but gilt-edged, clear-cut ones at that, and Cian Hackett managed to shut them out.

A little bit of luck occured, but it was something they deserved. Keith Raymond, as forecast in this paper a week ago, had the run of the park. Gradually, they cut off his supply. They denied him his oxygen. He wasn't there, but Mickey Harte would surely have approved.

Then, it happened. A 65 was sent into the square, it didn't clear the crossbar, and while confusion reigned supreme, the ball was in the net. Goal! The dream was still alive.

Ten minutes left on the clock, and Rory O'Neill was alert enough to poach another goal. The game on its' head, and Naomh Colum Cille through to an All-Ireland final. Let's say that again, because they deserve to savour it. Naomh Colum Cille, through to an All-Ireland final.

When you focus on clubs at this time of the year, you tend to notice certain things. Teams that are still sending their sides out at this time of the year, are there because they deserve to be. They rarely have just a few irons in the fire. In the case of St Gall's, they are snowed under with events marking their first one hundred years in existence, and the footballing wing of the club also hoping to land an All-Ireland. With Naomh Colum Cille (NCC), they have their stuff going on too.

A Youth Presentation night is coming up very shortly. On the same night, there are plans to launch the new, sparkling website, and their new, sparkling jersies. It gives lie to the old cliché, adapted for these purposes, that if you want something done right, you give it to a busy club.

Behind all this recent success though, lies a curious tale. Current manager Frankie Nixon never played hurling in his entire life, and even now admits with a chuckle that he "wouldn't be fit to hit the ball more than ten yards", yet he has been the catalyst of the good times.

"I was always playing football with Coalisland Na Fianna, from I was seven years old, right up to reserves, but then I got into the coaching end of things and took teams up there for seven or eight years."

In the meantime, NCC were struggling to establish themselves, and were without a manager. Nixon played football along with some of the hurlers, and had a friendship with his neighbour Damien O'Neill, a prominent man in the setting up of the hurling club. O'Neill convinced him to come along and take a session. Soon, he was asked to come back, and it snowballed from there. "It took quite a few phonecalls, and Damien was very persistent, but there was a connection with the boys, and my brothers would have played a bit too.

"I had great admiration for hurling, and hurlers. Especially Damien, who done so much to get this club up and running, so I said I would oblige him, to get him off the phone as much as anything else!"

He didn't play the game, but he certainly done his swotting up. He went through Ulster Council coaching conferences like a termite, sponging up information as he went, jotting down contacts.

Conor Murray of Derry came down and showed them a thing or two. The legendary Jim Nelson, Antrim manager of the Antrim 1989 team, popped by to take the odd session. If help was out there, Nixon called it in.

"Even this year, Jim Nelson was down here, Tom McGill was down, it helps freshen things up and people are so helpful. As the season has gone on, we have pushed ourselves, the confidence has gone up, and the player's expectations of themselves goes up."

This week, after all the long journeys to Magherafelt to train, they brought it all back to their own patch in the Clogh townland. Daymakers, the lights you see to help roadworks at night, have been hired to keep training going, and cut out all the travelling.

13 months ago, Nixon said that 2009 was to be his last year. It just so happens that his players have extended that year, and he couldn't be happier. "It's been brilliant. They are a friendly club, there are no cliques, and everybody is so close.

"From you are a child, no matter which sport you play, the dream is to be in Croke Park, and no matter as a manager or player, that's the goal. It will be a very proud day for the club, especially those who spent so much time getting it set up, and it is a dream come true."